ISLAMABAD - Cabinet Committee on Energy Thursday approved a proposal regarding import of additional 100MW electricity from Iran and directed the Ministry of Energy to make immediate arrangements for purchase.

A meeting of Cabinet Committee on Energy was held with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the chair. The meeting reviewed progress of transmission line project for Port Qasim, coal-fired power plants, Neelum-Jehlum project, hydel power projects, Trabela-IV and Golen Gol Hydel Power Project.

Official of the Ministry of Energy informed the meeting that government of Iran was interested in providing 100MW of electricity in addition to existing arrangement for 100 MW which is renewed annually. For the additional 100MW, transmission line and grid station has to be constructed to meet immediate needs of Makran division especially Gawadar Port and industrial area.

The CCE approved the proposal and directed the Ministry to make immediate arrangements for purchase of additional electricity from Iran and to complete the spadework expeditiously. Prime Minister also directed Ministry of Power to expedite transmission line projects for connecting Makran Division with the national grid on priority basis.

Managing Director NTDC informed the meeting that work on all transmission lines has been expedited. Transmission line to evacuate power from Port Qasim power plant will be completed ahead of scheduled date of 31 October 2017. Similarly, transmission lines for Neelum-Jehlum and Tarbela-IV will also be completed before the projects start producing electricity. For Golen Gol HPP, 13MW of electricity will be made available by December 2017. Moreover, in order to provide electricity to all the valleys in Chitral, two projects worth Rs. 5.1 billion have been prepared and PC-1s are under process in the Planning Division.

The Prime Minister directed Ministry of Power and PESCO to expedite approval of PC-1 so that all the villages in Chitral can be electrified as soon as possible.

Ministry of Power also informed the meeting that as per the latest projections, Pakistan will have surplus power starting in the year 2017-18. This surplus power will be further augmented during the subsequent years with the addition of new capacity from the Thar Coal as well as upcoming hydel projects. Additional power will be sufficient to cater for the growing demand for industry as well as domestic consumers.

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